The Dacha

Many Russians have a dacha, a country house. If a Brit mentions going to spend the weekend at the country house, you think of the landed gentry and large country estates. In Russia, it could mean many things.

Picking potatoes.

Originally, the Russian dacha did match our expectations as a place for the rich and the noble. The great and the good,  burdened by the luxury of their surrounds and wealth, needed somewhere to go to relax and hold their extravagant parties... the dacha. By the late 19th century, a place in the country was also popular among artists and the middle class to unwind languidly.


The Russian Revolution brought widespread changes to society. Dachas were no exceptions and were nationalised. Some were used for workers' holidays and, in the prevailing spirit of equality, the Soviet regime also took advantage... of the best ones for themselves and those in favour. This was despite such relaxation being seen as non-developmental and not contributing to society and therefore un-soviet.

From the late 1950s, the government allowed ordinary people to lease land on collective sites, thus not going against ideology. Land was limited to 600m² and a 'house' to one storey of 25m² - not enough dwelling space to become a permanent home. Perhaps with the food shortages of the Second World War still in mind or just a suitably productive use of land and free time, they were usually used for growing food. This need, and the popularity of dachas, increased in the 1980s with the difficulties of getting food in shops. The produce was eaten fresh or pickled for the lengthy winters.

Peas in a pod

Regulations were eased to allow more extensive dacha buildings, leading to banyas (Russian saunas) and larger houses, and to larger plots. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and its communist system, dachas could be bought privately. At this point, dachas came full circle historically - the rich could build as expansively as their budgets and imaginations allowed. For the majority of people who own dachas though, they are like a larger version of British allotments with additional buildings. They're still used for growing food, along with flowers, for unwinding out of the house and city, for barbecues and as a place to send the kids to stay with grandparents for the 3-month school hols. Some people even live there permanently as a cheaper option to living in a town or village.

A dacha you could live in.

From my experience of going there, it's something that I enjoy. It's a great mix of communing with nature and communicating with families and friends. Having said that, I don't go there regularly and don't have the responsibility for maintaining one or the hard work growing the veg. This also leads me to the question of what still drives people to go in such large numbers to till the land. There are still a number of throwbacks in modern-day Russia to its Soviet past and perhaps this is another one. Habit? A (subconscious) fear that food could run short? The need/ obligation for a productive free time? Maybe it's just a good relaxing way to expend energy to dig after a week in the office with the pleasure of seeing your efforts rewarded and come to fruition, literally, and of eating your own produce.

Eating your own produce just needs a bit of hard work and patience.

There's also the curiosity as to the dacha as a place to get away from the house when it can become an extension of the house and sometimes of some gender stereotypes: men typically potter around finding things to build and repair, women often prepare the food. The role-reversal comes in the cooking of the meat... men control the grill and guard it even more fiercely than the remote control for the TV.

Preparing food, to break gender stereotypes

It's a place without the hassles of daily life and the obsession with the superfluous, a place where hard work reaps tangible returns; it's talking and laughing with those close to you, a cold beer on a hot day, a lovingly-prepared barbecue and picking food from the plant. Ultimately, it's a place of simple pleasures.

The hard work pays off.

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The group Ленинград, = Leningrad, wrote a song about going to the dacha for the summer, called СИЗОнная, SIZOnnaya, a play on words, mixing the idea of seasonal (sezonaya) and detention centre or prison (SIZO). Leningrad are known for their obscenities and political incorrectness.

Translation - some isn't literal, but it gets the idea and is still vulgar :)

They're closing the borders to us 
Your tourism's turning to shit.
No use travelling to Nice
Thus spoke Omar Khayyam.

And at our dacha,
Near the palms by the river,
The really macho guys there
Are already grilling kebabs.

I don't wanna go to the dacha,
To the dacha, I don't wanna go
Now I'm going to cry
And to scream loudly,
So I don't wanna go to the dacha,
To the dacha, I don't wanna go

We have not eaten borsch for a while,
Everything Thailand, yes Bali,
pissed me off with what we ate,
Courchevel - fucking tiresome

Any vodka's better than whiskey
Perch is better than any sprats,
You'll be able to eat from bowls,
Fucking hell, Kitten!
 
I don't wanna go to the dacha,
To the dacha, I don't wanna go
Now I'm going to cry
And to scream loudly,
So I don't wanna go to the dacha,
To the dacha, I don't wanna go


I give you all.
You give me only some.
"You're gonna summer at the dacha!"
"It's cold!"
"Take a coat!"

Babes - the devil's spawn,
where's your love for your homeland?
Why the fuck did I buy land?
I didn't say that, but Omar Khayyam!

I don't wanna go to the dacha,
To the dacha, I don't wanna go
Now I'm going to cry
And to scream loudly,
So I don't wanna go to the dacha,
To the dacha, I don't wanna go........